Turtle Rock Studios' Left 4 Dead spiritual successor, Back 4 Blood's DLC will be available for everyone, so long as one person in their party has it. The Back 4 Blood hype train has been chugging along unimpeded for the most part, however, it may have hit a hiccup.
Turtle Rock Studios' previous AAA title, Evolve, also had offline single-player capabilities, despite being a similar first-person, PvP-style title to Back 4 Blood. Clearly, the know-how and technical capabilities to make an offline mode does exist at Turtle Rock Studios. However it is 2021, and the video game industry is different than it was even in 2015. Online-only, multiplayer-centric games appear to be the move going forward for large games of this genre.
From the official Turtle Rock Studios Twitter page, it was learned (courtesy of GameSpot) that Back 4 Blood will require a constant internet connection, even for offline solo play. The question was first asked by PhoenixKa1 on Twitter, who noticed that the PlayStation store has Back 4 Blood listed as requiring online capabilities. Turtle Rock Studios responded with, "you will need an internet connection to play at launch," although the studio prefaced its answer by saying that it was looking into ing offline play in the future.
The response to this news has not been positive, as evident by the many replies from prospective customers. One reply mentions that Turtle Rock's previous zombie game, Left 4 Dead, did not require internet connectivity for solo play, therefore Back 4 Blood should not either. Considering the emphasis was put on Back 4 Blood's new PvP mode, and the fact that the last Left 4 Dead game released in 2009, it is not completely unheard of for Turtle Rock Studios to have changed its approach to game design.
While fans may be displeased to hear Back 4 Blood will be an online-only experience (at least at launch), Turtle Rock Studios and publishers Warner Bros. Interactive are seemingly all in on the idea; Back 4 Blood will (allegedly) be available on Xbox Game from day one, leaning further into this online aspect. Considering the unwavering buzz surrounding Back 4 Blood, only time will tell if this news actually affects it, which releases on October 12.
Back 4 Blood will be available for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC on October 12, 2021.
Source: Turtle Rock Studios/Twitter, GameSpot
